Sectorgame

Well, I have absolutely no musical background and can't play any instrument whatsoever, so naturally I decided to start out by trying to compose an original orchestral track on my first go in an unfamilier program. I mean, doesn't everyone?

Here's the result: http://sectorfiles.net/ti-file-dump/Vas ... 1_WIP5.mp3

It turned out better than I expected, but I know it's still far from good.

So, lacking any clue about what is good and what is not, I figure I'll ask you lot. What sort of things should I focus on doing when I eventually get around to trying a second one?

Pretty nice. Definitely impressive for a first piece. One thing you might work on in orchestral pieces is variation--in an orchestral piece you may repeat the same melody twice, but only with substantial variation between the first and second repetitions, and usually quite a bit of separation between the first and second time the line is played.

mmm...interesting. i especially enjoy the snares. not bad for a first piece. my first song i made was absolute crap looking back. yours sounds majestic but needs variation (but not *too* much). unfortunately, i'm not very fond of this style of music so i can't really offer my opinion on it.

(as for my first piece, maybe i'll upload it someday so everyone can see how far i've come )

My first piece is lost in hundreds of years of corrupted discs. And to be true, with the equipment and lack of software I used back then, it pales in comparison to the stuff you can whip together in 30 seconds with todays stuff.

Sounds good, very Sci-fi, though, in my opinion, a little bit too punchy in the Bass range, but sounding very promising. For my own part, I think it needs a 'hook', a theme that is recognisable, it got a nice melody but it tends to wander around a lot, that can work, but it sometimes helps to have a much shorter 'hook' counter-melody that gives form to the main melody. If I have time, I'll knock together an example of what I mean

Edit : I've actually just made contact with someone who has tape recordings of the tunes I did when I was about 16 and in a rock band, I'm planning to digitise it once I can get my hands on them, I might post one or two of those if I'm drunk enough

Ok, thanks all.
And Flip, that would be excellent.

So variation is probably most important thing. Does that mean variation in the tune, variation in the instruments used to make that tune (and their start - stop timings) or something else?

Another question; I did this piece in a really basic chorus-stanza-chorus format - should I change that?

variation is change of melody AND a difference in how you use melody (when: often or every once in a while)
as for chorus-stanza-chorus, that doesn't matter. arrange the sound however you'd like to. try adding more instruments to give it more effects. i noticed the song doesn't really have many cool effects (like a breakup of the melody, large change of drums) so play around with it and try to add some effects.

The chorus-stanza format is excellent for orchestral work such as this, so long as the chorus and stanzas are very definite. That's really what adds variation in a piece like this--having stanzas that change factors such as the backbeat or the timing of the notes as well as instrumentation. A change in lead instruments accents the differences between chorus and stanzas even further and renews a listener's interest in the song.

Awesome - I'll try that when I next need a break from building ships.
Thanks.